WJ/BCC Fight - No racism please!

[Anonymous]

It seems clear from this email that the WJ Principal (and I assume police) are viewing this incident as an attack on WJ Students and not a fight. Thoughts? I don't want this thread to get locked so please keep the discussion civil.

In this message I am bringing you some important information, reminders, and updates. First, I appreciate all the emails I received from our wonderful and supportive community over the weekend. I have always felt so fortunate to have such a caring and supportive parent/guardian community. As you have been recently informed, there were serious and disturbing attacks and assaults on WJ students after the football game on Friday night that resulted in injuries. I have viewed all the videos and the police are in the midst of their investigation, which I am sure will lead to appropriate actions and discipline. I wanted to reassure our community that we will all collaborate and work hard to make sure this does not happen again in the future.

Over the past years, we have been to other schools and hosted many safe athletic events at WJ. We have held many activities on campus that our students and community members have enjoyed. Additionally, our students have been great partners in helping keep everyone safe. This has been true for events at school, at other schools, and during our open lunch.

I know that what happened Friday was very scary for our students who were there and disruptive to our community. To help our students process these events, I will make an announcement to update students tomorrow, and also make myself available at lunch in the auditorium for any students who would like to talk or ask questions. We will also have our counselors and other support staff available for anyone who needs any support all day long in the counseling office. Additionally, our Back-to School Night is on Thursday, September 7th and there is a PTSA meeting for parents at 6. I will be there to answer any questions parents might have at that time. The meeting will be held in the cafeteria at 6 p.m.

Finally, I will continue to update our community as I am able regarding the police investigations and the outcomes. I will reassure our students that we are working diligently to provide safety at future activities and make sure they know our goal is always for them to have fun at school events. We want them to enjoy their high school experience and I am committed to providing many opportunities for them to do so. Please stay tuned for more information.

Below is information regarding Back-to-School Night and a few upcoming dates.

Thank you as always for your continued support. It truly takes a village.

Jennifer Baker

[Anonymous]

BCC Principal posted this yesterday:

Dear B-CC Community,

I am writing as a follow-up to the community letter that Ms. Jennifer Baker, Principal at Walter Johnson High School, and I jointly sent on Saturday morning. The events that occurred after our football game versus WJ were horrific and unacceptable. We continue to work with MCPS Offices of Safety and Security, School Support and Well-Being, and General Counsel and are cooperating fully with the Montgomery County Police Department in the on-going investigations.

While determining any appropriate consequences for these actions is important, I am also aware that we will be opening our doors tomorrow morning to welcome back students who may be concerned about the events based on their personal experience or what they may have viewed on social media. I want to make everyone aware of the support we will be offering to students throughout the day. I will also make an announcement at the beginning of the day to share this information with students first hand.

Any student who would like to discuss Friday’s events or how they are feeling about the events can access their counselor or administrator at any point throughout the day. In addition, the B-CC Bridge to Wellness team and school social worker are available to support students. I will also be available to answer specific student questions during lunch. (location to be determined and shared with students).

Our school team is committed to the safety of everyone at B-CC and work on a daily basis to maintain that safety. Please feel free to contact me or your child’s assistant principal if you have any questions related to school safety.

Take care and be well.

Shelton Mooney, Ed.D.
Principal
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School

[Anonymous]

A WJ parent took their kid to the police station and reported it as an assault.

Police will need to do an investigation to determine if it was an assault or a fight.

You will need to wait for facts.

A police report is not facts, it is a report written when people are interviewed. People can lie in the interview.
A police investigation is usually based on facts (though something they are wrong too).

Kid comes home beaten up and he told his parents, "I was assaulted", it might be the truth or he lied because he didn't want to admit he was in a fight (and lost).

[Anonymous]

10:47 again.

I want to point out that the perpetrators might not actually be from either school! It's possible that on a Friay night before a long weekend, some violent youths may have laid in wait at the metro to target individuals or small groups. They exploited the fact that there was a game at BCC and that the metro station is close by.

So, with that thought in mind, I think we need to do our utmost to identify most of the perpetrators before we blame WJ or BCC kids, the football, the coaches, the principals, etc.

What we could do, regardless of who is responsible, is:
1. Schedule the game for a Saturday earlier in the day. In the past it's proven effective as a deterrent to violence.
2. Provide more police presence in and around the school, particularly at transport hubs.
3. Press charges against the violent youths and have sentencing be a serious deterrent. MCPS cannot be relied on to provide adequate consequences. This is a police matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A WJ parent took their kid to the police station and reported it as an assault.

Police will need to do an investigation to determine if it was an assault or a fight.

You will need to wait for facts.

A police report is not facts, it is a report written when people are interviewed. People can lie in the interview.
A police investigation is usually based on facts (though something they are wrong too).

Kid comes home beaten up and he told his parents, "I was assaulted", it might be the truth or he lied because he didn't want to admit he was in a fight (and lost).

? Assault is assault regardless of whether it was in the middle of several people fighting or not. If you're hit by someone, it's assault. You can call police and press charges. They will determine if you also threw punches, and whether you started it, or whether you exercised reasonable self-defence.

[Anonymous]

Everything I’ve heard has corroborated that B-CC students attacked WJ students and that it was not a situation where both schools were equally at fault. The two principal letters seems to also back that up. From the videos, it is clear that students of different races were involved in the attacks so I don’t see this as having anything to do with race.

I hope the police come down hard on the students involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A WJ parent took their kid to the police station and reported it as an assault.

Police will need to do an investigation to determine if it was an assault or a fight.

You will need to wait for facts.

A police report is not facts, it is a report written when people are interviewed. People can lie in the interview.
A police investigation is usually based on facts (though something they are wrong too).

Kid comes home beaten up and he told his parents, "I was assaulted", it might be the truth or he lied because he didn't want to admit he was in a fight (and lost).

? Assault is assault regardless of whether it was in the middle of several people fighting or not. If you're hit by someone, it's assault. You can call police and press charges. They will determine if you also threw punches, and whether you started it, or whether you exercised reasonable self-defence.

That is not how the laws are written.

Fighting is actually legal. You have the legal right to fight someone else if you choose. If you choose to be in a fight you can't claim assault.

You might be able to argue once somebody is on the ground and being kicked the fight has now turned into an assault.

Just let your children know, if they agree to be in a fight, they can't turn around after they lose a fight and claim assault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
10:47 again.

I want to point out that the perpetrators might not actually be from either school! It's possible that on a Friay night before a long weekend, some violent youths may have laid in wait at the metro to target individuals or small groups. They exploited the fact that there was a game at BCC and that the metro station is close by.

So, with that thought in mind, I think we need to do our utmost to identify most of the perpetrators before we blame WJ or BCC kids, the football, the coaches, the principals, etc.

What we could do, regardless of who is responsible, is:
1. Schedule the game for a Saturday earlier in the day. In the past it's proven effective as a deterrent to violence.
2. Provide more police presence in and around the school, particularly at transport hubs.
3. Press charges against the violent youths and have sentencing be a serious deterrent. MCPS cannot be relied on to provide adequate consequences. This is a police matter.

Violent girls in yoga shorts and sports bra's lying in wait...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
10:47 again.

I want to point out that the perpetrators might not actually be from either school! It's possible that on a Friay night before a long weekend, some violent youths may have laid in wait at the metro to target individuals or small groups. They exploited the fact that there was a game at BCC and that the metro station is close by.

So, with that thought in mind, I think we need to do our utmost to identify most of the perpetrators before we blame WJ or BCC kids, the football, the coaches, the principals, etc.

What we could do, regardless of who is responsible, is:
1. Schedule the game for a Saturday earlier in the day. In the past it's proven effective as a deterrent to violence.
2. Provide more police presence in and around the school, particularly at transport hubs.
3. Press charges against the violent youths and have sentencing be a serious deterrent. MCPS cannot be relied on to provide adequate consequences. This is a police matter.

I totally agree and I think they should immediately reschedule all of BCC's games to Saturday mornings. The rest of the county high schools should follow suit.

[Anonymous]

The posts are already gross and we can see parents trying to explain away the vicious behavior of some kids there. Don’t care if this threads gets locked as well; what matters are that complaints are filed, arrests are made, and students who joined in kicking a kid in the ground in the head are expelled.

Nothing less is acceptable and, quite frankly, people are watching MCPS leadership to see if it tolerates even more bad behavior or starts acting like adults.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for starting a new thread. Can anybody update if students are out of the hospital and OK?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A WJ parent took their kid to the police station and reported it as an assault.

Police will need to do an investigation to determine if it was an assault or a fight.

You will need to wait for facts.

A police report is not facts, it is a report written when people are interviewed. People can lie in the interview.
A police investigation is usually based on facts (though something they are wrong too).

Kid comes home beaten up and he told his parents, "I was assaulted", it might be the truth or he lied because he didn't want to admit he was in a fight (and lost).

? Assault is assault regardless of whether it was in the middle of several people fighting or not. If you're hit by someone, it's assault. You can call police and press charges. They will determine if you also threw punches, and whether you started it, or whether you exercised reasonable self-defence.

That is not how the laws are written.

Fighting is actually legal. You have the legal right to fight someone else if you choose. If you choose to be in a fight you can't claim assault.

You might be able to argue once somebody is on the ground and being kicked the fight has now turned into an assault.

Just let your children know, if they agree to be in a fight, they can't turn around after they lose a fight and claim assault.

LOL WHAT?

[Anonymous]

They need to expeditiously identify the attackers, assuming the narrative that they are B-CC students holds true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A WJ parent took their kid to the police station and reported it as an assault.

Police will need to do an investigation to determine if it was an assault or a fight.

You will need to wait for facts.

A police report is not facts, it is a report written when people are interviewed. People can lie in the interview.
A police investigation is usually based on facts (though something they are wrong too).

Kid comes home beaten up and he told his parents, "I was assaulted", it might be the truth or he lied because he didn't want to admit he was in a fight (and lost).

? Assault is assault regardless of whether it was in the middle of several people fighting or not. If you're hit by someone, it's assault. You can call police and press charges. They will determine if you also threw punches, and whether you started it, or whether you exercised reasonable self-defence.

That is not how the laws are written.

Fighting is actually legal. You have the legal right to fight someone else if you choose. If you choose to be in a fight you can't claim assault.

You might be able to argue once somebody is on the ground and being kicked the fight has now turned into an assault.

Just let your children know, if they agree to be in a fight, they can't turn around after they lose a fight and claim assault.

LOL WHAT?

NP - I'm not sure why you're laughing, the PP is right. If groups of students met up to fight, there's noting illegal about that (though it's idiotic). It's not at all clear that is what happened here, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A WJ parent took their kid to the police station and reported it as an assault.

Police will need to do an investigation to determine if it was an assault or a fight.

You will need to wait for facts.

A police report is not facts, it is a report written when people are interviewed. People can lie in the interview.
A police investigation is usually based on facts (though something they are wrong too).

Kid comes home beaten up and he told his parents, "I was assaulted", it might be the truth or he lied because he didn't want to admit he was in a fight (and lost).

? Assault is assault regardless of whether it was in the middle of several people fighting or not. If you're hit by someone, it's assault. You can call police and press charges. They will determine if you also threw punches, and whether you started it, or whether you exercised reasonable self-defence.

What evidence of this agreement to fight would exist to substantiate that both parties were mutually agreeing to a fight? It's not like we have a written contract to go off of.

And further more, how can minors who can't consent to so many things be capable of committing to an agreement of engaging in violent activity with one another?
That is not how the laws are written.

Fighting is actually legal. You have the legal right to fight someone else if you choose. If you choose to be in a fight you can't claim assault.

You might be able to argue once somebody is on the ground and being kicked the fight has now turned into an assault.

Just let your children know, if they agree to be in a fight, they can't turn around after they lose a fight and claim assault.

LOL WHAT?

NP - I'm not sure why you're laughing, the PP is right. If groups of students met up to fight, there's noting illegal about that (though it's idiotic). It's not at all clear that is what happened here, though.